Rare and declining bird species benefit most from designating protected areas for conservation in the UK.
Nat Ecol Evol
; 7(1): 92-101, 2023 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36471120
ABSTRACT
There have been recent renewed commitments to increase the extent of protected areas to combat the growing biodiversity crisis but the underpinning evidence for their effectiveness is mixed and causal connections are rarely evaluated. We used data gathered by three large-scale citizen science programmes in the UK to provide the most comprehensive assessment to date of whether national (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and European (Special Protection Areas/Special Areas of Conservation) designated areas are associated with improved state (occurrence, abundance), change (rates of colonization, persistence and trend in abundance), community structure and, uniquely, demography (productivity) on a national avifauna, while controlling for differences in land cover, elevation and climate. We found positive associations with state that suggest these areas are well targeted and that the greatest benefit accrued to the most conservation-dependent species since positive associations with change were largely restricted to rare and declining species and habitat specialists. We suggest that increased productivity provides a plausible demographic mechanism for positive effects of designation.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Conservação dos Recursos Naturais
/
Biodiversidade
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article